Alina gazed up at him in shock, her mouth hung open. Corliss whispered in her ear as Rutherford stood behind her chair, and placed his hands on her shoulders.
Tell them!
My pulse surged. Dark, murderous thoughts coursed through my head, filling my veins with liquid poison.
Tell them! Tell them that you’re mine.
Seconds stretched in a deep, relentless silence.
“Lord Rutherford was named by the heiress as her future husband,” Adger continued in a triumphant voice.
Cheers shook the whole building, but I did not look at anyone except her.
Alina’s eyes flickered in my direction and everything stilled around us.
My lungs took in the chilly night air, my muscles tight from many days of not transforming. I flew up until it was getting hard to breathe, and then I was falling. I shifted back as my body rotated in a freefall, and just let it happen until I could not feel anything at all.
My head was buzzing with intrusive, violent thoughts and I could barely contain the rage. I felt the need to escape, to just leave this hateful city, leaving everything and everyone behind.
Alina had made her choice in the end. It was not something I could ignore. She had decided what was best for her, and I had to respect her wishes. Deep down I knew, I could not even blame her. She was presented withopportunities that I would never be able to offer. All the plans, the dreams we had about going back to her land seemed like naive fantasies that could never come to life.
My body shifted in the air, and I took control of my fall, adjusting my wings and straightening my body. The wind carried me forward. I flew above the city, unseen by anyone. There was no way to tell how long I had spent in the air.
I landed on the wide concrete barrier that separated the city from no-man’s-lands. Just below, in the dark, I could see the movements of the undying corpses running and jumping below, scattered across abandoned fields, and lurking in the empty streets.
My time in Railand has come to an end.
“Ty!” Sol’s voice sounded in my head.
I turned, looking around.
“What do you want?”
“Where are you?”
I paused, checking my surroundings.
“Why?”
“No reason.”
I shook my head when I saw the silhouette of the dragon appearing in the sky from the direction of the city.
He landed beside me and looked down.
“How are you?” he asked, still talking directly to my mind.
“Been better.”
He said nothing and together we stayed in complete silence for a long time, watching the sunrise. Somethingwas wrong about the way the beauty of the first powerful rays of light landed on the corrupted ugliness of the herds of the undead below. The missing eye sockets and torn limbs, the strips of skin dragging behind them. The perfect golden sheen dusted the impurity of everything our world was without discriminating against it, showing that even the divine could walk alongside pure evil.
I exhaled, watching the ever changing shades of rose gold in the sky.
Even if she did not want me, I was not going to just leave. It was simply impossible. If she did not want me, she would have to say it to my face, and even then, I would not be able to do it, despite the pain, despite the heartbreak. There was simply no way.
“We need to get back,” I said at last.
“Feel better?”
